The chess games of Aron Nimzowitsch

ARON NIMZOWITSCH
(born Nov-07-1886, died Mar-16-1935, 48 years old) Latvia (federation/nationality Denmark)

Aron Nimzowitsch was born in Riga, Latvia (then part of the Russian Empire) in 1886. He came to prominence in the chess world just before the First World War. He finished joint second with Rudolf Spielmann, half a point behind Akiba Rubinstein, at San Sebastian (1912). He was Russian Champion in 1913 (jointly with Alexander Alekhine) at St. Petersburg. Like Alekhine and others, he fled Russia after the 1917 Russian revolution. He initially moved to Berlin. In 1922, he finally settled in Copenhagen, Denmark, where he lived for the rest of his life.

Nimzowitsch won a string of international events in the mid-1920s which led him to challenge Jose Raul Capablanca to a world championship match in 1925, but negotiations dissolved after monetary backing could not be found. He took first place at Copenhagen (1923), Dresden (1926), Karlsbad (1929) and Frankfurt (1930).

Nimzowitsch's chess theories flew in the face of convention. He had a lengthy and bitter conflict with Siegbert Tarrasch over which ideas constituted proper chess play. While Tarrasch refined the classical approach of Wilhelm Steinitz, that the center had to be controlled and occupied by pawns, Nimzowitsch shattered these dogmatic assumptions, and proposed the controlling of the center with pieces from afar. In this way, the opponent is invited to occupy the center with pawns which thus become the targets of attack. This idea became known as the hypermodern school of chess thought.

Nimzowitsch, along with other hypermodern thinkers such as Richard Reti, revolutionized chess with their argument that controlling the center of the board matters more than actually occupying it. Nimzowitsch is also a highly-regarded chess writer, most famously for his controversial 1925 book My System, which is considered a classic by some prominent modern players but derided by others. Other books include Chess Praxis, which further expounds the hypermodern idea, and the seminal work The Blockade (Die Blockade in German), which explores the strategy implied by his famous maxim, "First restrain, then blockade, finally destroy!"

As a profound opening theoretician, Nimzowitsch has left a legacy of variations, many of which are still popular today. The Nimzo-Indian Defense (1.d4 ♘f6 2.c4 e6 3.♘c3 ♗b4) is one of the best-respected defenses to 1.d4, to such an extent that most players avoid it with 3.Nf3 or 3.g3. He played a key role in the development of two important lines in the French Defense: the Winawer Variation (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.♘c3 ♗b4) and the Advance Variation (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5). His name is also attached to the Sicilian, Nimzovich-Rubinstein (B29) Variation (1.e4 c5 2.♘f3 ♘f6), the Nimzowitsch-Larsen Attack (1.♘f3 followed by 2.b3), the Nimzowitsch Defense (1.e4 ♘c6), and the Nimzo-English (1.c4 ♘f6 2.♘c3 e6 3.♘f3 ♗b4).

He suddenly took ill at the end of 1934, and died of pneumonia three months later on March 16, 1935 in Copenhagen.

Wikipedia article: Aron Nimzowitsch

Last updated: 2023-06-27 11:05:43

page 1 of 29; games 1-25 of 713

Game	Result	Moves	Year	Event/Locale	Opening
1. A Nimzowitsch vs NN	1-0	18	1896	Riga	B01 Scandinavian
2. E Schroeder vs A Nimzowitsch	0-1	20	1903	Cafe Kaiserhof offhand game	C63 Ruy Lopez, Schliemann Defense
3. B Blumenfeld vs A Nimzowitsch	1-0	29	1903	Berlin	C45 Scotch Game
4. Tarrasch vs A Nimzowitsch	½-½	71	1904	Offhand game	D07 Queen's Gambit Declined, Chigorin Defense
5. E Cohn vs A Nimzowitsch	0-1	30	1904	14th DSB Congress - Hauptturnier A	C41 Philidor Defense
6. Vidmar vs A Nimzowitsch	1-0	48	1904	14th DSB Congress - Hauptturnier A	D02 Queen's Pawn Game
7. A Nimzowitsch vs W Hilse	1-0	65	1904	14th DSB Congress - Hauptturnier A	C27 Vienna Game
8. B Gregory vs A Nimzowitsch	1-0	36	1904	14th DSB Congress - Hauptturnier A	A30 English, Symmetrical
9. P Kaegbein vs A Nimzowitsch	1-0	42	1904	14th DSB Congress - Hauptturnier A	D07 Queen's Gambit Declined, Chigorin Defense
10. A Nimzowitsch vs Duras	1-0	55	1904	14th DSB Congress - Hauptturnier A	B15 Caro-Kann
11. A Nimzowitsch vs L Forgacs	0-1	52	1905	Austro-Hungarian championship	C45 Scotch Game
12. A Nimzowitsch vs Schlechter	0-1	26	1905	Austro-Hungarian championship	B22 Sicilian, Alapin
13. H Wolf vs A Nimzowitsch	½-½	34	1905	Austro-Hungarian championship	C63 Ruy Lopez, Schliemann Defense
14. L Forgacs vs A Nimzowitsch	0-1	34	1905	Austro-Hungarian championship	C63 Ruy Lopez, Schliemann Defense
15. A Nimzowitsch vs Albin	1-0	38	1905	Austro-Hungarian championship	B02 Alekhine's Defense
16. A Nimzowitsch vs Spielmann	1-0	42	1905	Nimzowitsch - Spielmann, 1st Match	C45 Scotch Game
17. A Nimzowitsch vs Spielmann	1-0	20	1905	Cafe Orlando di Lasso offhand	C44 King's Pawn Game
18. Spielmann vs A Nimzowitsch	1-0	19	1905	Nimzowitsch - Spielmann, 1st Match	B15 Caro-Kann
19. A Nimzowitsch vs Spielmann	1-0	35	1905	Nimzowitsch - Spielmann, 1st Match	C45 Scotch Game
20. A Nimzowitsch vs Spielmann	½-½	36	1905	Nimzowitsch - Spielmann, 1st Match	C45 Scotch Game
21. A Nimzowitsch vs K Satzinger	1-0	35	1905	1st simul	B22 Sicilian, Alapin
22. A Nimzowitsch vs Fr Teltscher	1-0	28	1905	1st simul	B20 Sicilian
23. A Nimzowitsch vs D Przepiorka	½-½	25	1905	Barmen Meisterturnier B	B22 Sicilian, Alapin
24. Spielmann vs A Nimzowitsch	1-0	30	1905	Barmen Meisterturnier B	C25 Vienna
25. A Nimzowitsch vs L Forgacs	0-1	33	1905	Barmen Meisterturnier B	C45 Scotch Game


page 1 of 29; games 1-25 of 713

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